Barcelona 2-3 Valencia: Valencia rewarded for bravery on the counter-attack

February 3, 2014

The starting line-ups

Barcelona suffered their first home defeat of the season, to a Valencia side who had the third-worst away record in La Liga.

Tata Martino rested Andres Iniesta, and is still without Neymar.

Valencia had a busy few days in the transfer window – mainly with players departing. Helder Postiga, Ever Banega and Andres Guardado have all left the club. Juan Antonio Pizzi selected a cautious XI with five players across midfield, including two holding midfielders, while Jonas was only on the bench.

This was a peculiar game. Barcelona were utterly dominant for the first 40 minutes, with little sign Valencia were set to record an upset. This wasn’t exactly a masterclass from Pizzi, but elements of Valencia’s play – and particularly their bravery in getting men forward on the break – should be applauded.

Messi dominates

There was little unusual about Barcelona’s strategy – it was a standard 4-3-3 with familiar players in familiar roles. Sergio Busquets appeared to play a little higher than usual, and Cesc Fabregas was very much tucked into a midfield three, rather than his roaming attacking role where he plays closer to Messi. Pedro Rodriguez stretched the play on the left, Alexis Sanchez tried to break in behind the defence more frequently from the right.

The key player was Messi, though – he was at his most dominant, although not necessarily at his best. The statistics underline his influence – he had eight shots (no-one else had more than three) and created six chances – which means he was involved in 14 of Barca’s 20 attempts. He also dribbled past opponents nine times (no-one else did so more than once). This was Messidependencia at its most blatant – although that’s inevitably only cast as a negative depending upon the scoreline.

Messi was actually disappointing in front of goal, and had a glorious late chance to equalise saved, following a brilliant passing move with Iniesta and Daniel Alves. Although he’s registered in the Copa del Rey and managed a penalty here, he hasn’t scored from open play in his last nine league appearances (during some of these, he’s been hampered by injury).

Clearly, he’s still Barcelona’s best and most important player, but Messi at his peak could have scored a hattrick, which would have rendered Valencia’s efforts futile.

Valencia defensive shape

Valencia started with a reasonably high defensive line, nearly being caught out by runs in behind from both Sanchez and Alves in the opening 25 minutes. Despite this bravery, they didn’t press particularly high up and concentrated on minimising the space between the lines. Both Fabregas and Xavi stayed deeper and enjoyed their freedom in midfield positions, with Messi often the only one attempting to find pockets of space between Valencia’s midfield and defence.

Their actual formation was a cross between a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-3-3. Javi Fuego stayed deepest, in the centre, with Oriel Romeu rarely moving forward to his right. Dani Parejo got back into a left-sided central midfield role but also broke forward into attack, and positionally he was the key player in Valencia’s system.

Parejo role

Parejo’s main contribution was his energy and work rate – he had strict defensive responsibilities without the ball, but then had to scamper forward on the break to lead the attacks. A particularly noticeable feature of his game was how he always looked for space when Valencia won possession, and positioned himself to receive the ball and keep moves flowing. His one-touch passing was slick and purposeful, he could attack in behind Busquets or drop deep to receive the ball unattended, and played that advanced midfield role perfectly.

He regained possession and used it effectively:

Despite the pace of two wide men, Valencia usually broke through the middle, and one of the key features of their play was how they took advantage of Busquets being forced to cover a lot of ground. A 4-3-3 can often be exposed when one of the opposition wide players moves inside to become the ’second No. 10′, whereas a side with two holding midfielders doesn’t become overloaded.

That’s what frequently happened here. Sofiane Feghouli naturally drifts centrally as he charges towards goal, while Pablo Piatti made sure he charged inside, too. Busquets was covering too much space, and Valencia found it surprisingly easy to cause him problems.

Although not really a counter-attack, Valencia’s opener was a decent example. Busquets loses a tackle against Parejo, and therefore both he and Feghouli are running at the Barcelona defence – they have around 20 yards of space to themselves.

This is also a good example of Valencia getting numbers into the box – as Parejo runs forward in possession. Valencia are breaking 5 v 3, with Javier Mascherano forced to cope with three runners in the centre-left channel.

Barragan attacks down the right

Mascherano’s difficulty in that situation was partly because Antonio Barragan took up such an advanced position, and this was another key feature of Valencia’s play – they often switched the play out to the right-back, who was surprisingly brave in his positioning throughout. He provided the cross for Valencia’s second goal, a superb Piatti header, following an excellent penetrative Feghouli pass down the line.

He was much more attacking than left-back Juan Bernat:

In fact, all three goals came from the right – Feghouli crossed for striker Paco Alcacer for the winner. This fact, combined with Jordi Alba’s sending-off for two bookable offences, asks serious questions about the left-back’s defensive awareness, and whether Barcelona can field he and Alves together and allow both to play such attacking roles.

More interesting for the third goal, however, was the build-up play that led to the throw-in. It was that same situation – Feghouli and Parejo combining between the lines, Busquets missing the crucial tackle, and Parejo leading a 4 v 3 break.

It’s also worth asking what Xavi and Fabregas were contributing defensively – they weren’t pressing a great deal, nor getting back to help Busquets. Martino’s approach without possession has rarely looked so weak.

Barcelona struggle to get back into the game

Barcelona were trailing for, in total, 37 minutes of the second half – and their attempts to get back into the game were rather poor, even before Alba’s 78th minute dismissal. There was no real plan, with Messi left to run around trying to win the game solo.

Maybe the closing stages were a harsh reflection on Martino’s efforts. The decision to introduce Iniesta for Xavi upped the passing tempo, and he moved to more of a 4-2-1-3 (with Messi just behind Christian Tello, Sanchez at centre-forward and Pedro on the right) which would have been interesting – but then Alba was sent off a minute later.

This meant Barca shifting to a 3/4-man defence compromise, with Mascherano moving to left-back and Busquets dropping in at the back. Iniesta was the only real midfielder, with Messi supporting three forwards. By this point Barca’s system really lacked any familiarity or purpose, and Valencia were only opened up with the brilliant Messi-Iniesta-Alves move in stoppage time, that Diego Alves turned around the post – it would have been one of the goals of the season.

Conclusion

Other away sides will probably play better at the Nou Camp this season and lose – Barcelona’s finishing wasn’t up to scratch, and they made some particularly poor defensive errors, too.

But there was much to admire about this Valencia performance. The number of midfield runners they got forward on the break was impressive, with Barragan crucial from right-back, Feghouli cutting inside to overload Busquets, and Parejo shuttling forward between defence and attack expertly, finding space very intelligently.

The opening half hour, or 40 minutes as you said, was the best I’ve seen Barca this season. I’m still in recovery mode at the shock, witnessing how well they started & then seeing them crumble in one game.
Valencia’s bravery on the break was impressive. I’m not convinced it was their game-plan which rattled Barcelona though. When you see Busquets start making simple mistakes, you know something’s not right.

He's Gotta Hit The Target from there (for me) on February 3, 2014 at 2:36 pm

I wonder Mascherano would ever be used as a central defender at any other club, even one that is heavily possession based. Any thoughts?

BarcaVfB on February 3, 2014 at 5:09 pm

Think yes. Could for example play the role of Koscielny perfectly at Arsenal.
In a proactive team he is very useful as Centreback. Reads the game well and has a good timing for a (sliding) tackle.

He struggles when he has to defend deep.
But teams like Arsenal, Bayern, Dortmund and maybe Juventus could field him in defense.

He\'s Gotta Hit The Target from there (for me) on February 3, 2014 at 5:40 pm

Good point, but I wonder if, say, at Arsenal, he would struggle, being only 5′9″ and not great in the air anyway, whereas Koscielny is 6′0″ and has a good leap. But apart from that handicap, he is surprisingly adept at CB for a guy who probably never played there before coming to Barcelona. When he left Liverpool I assumed he would play the defensive midfield role, since I wasn’t as familiar with Busquets then.

Rajesh on February 3, 2014 at 2:40 pm

Nice review ZM.
In Barca blogs, people are blaming Messi for his lazy approach, with some even suggesting to sell him to get out of Messidependencia etc..incredible reactions for the first home defeat.
But inspite of being kind of lazy/disinterested, he seemed to be the only person with attacking intent. The way he picks up the passing angles when playing deep is unbelievable.
That beautiful play between Alves Iniesta and Messi, was quite common in the Barca of past coaches. We dont see that much with Tata.

Anyone calling Messi “lazy” is misguided. But many, including me, think that the way he walks/stands around makes it easier for defenses to control him.

There is also a notable slowing down of the decision making process when Messi is in there as he becomes the first option for passers, and if he isn’t open, the inevitable pause happens, allowing the opposing defenders to reset.

This doesn’t even include the passes to Messi when others were more open/useful. Pedro on one very notable occasion passed to Messi who was accompanied by two defenders, rather than feed a wide-open Fabregas, who threw up his arms in frustration.

I just don’t know what to make of the Messiparalysis (more than Messidependencia). I know they want him to score goals so that he is happy, but it’s something that needs to be addressed. The late chance was brilliant because it shows what this team can do with speed of ball and player movement. It happens so rarely these days that it is notable when it does.

The team’s record with Messi back is two draws, a win and a loss. Yikes. People who blame Messi for that aren’t correct. But there seems to be a mentality shift that isn’t good for the overall play, evident by how the team played when Messi was out.

He\\\'s Gotta Hit The Target from there (for me) on February 3, 2014 at 5:48 pm

That’ a good point. There’s a fine line between maximum efficiency of combinations, and putting every resource at the disposal of one point (Messi). Who wouldn’t be over-reliant on Messi? The guy’s not my favourite player but he the world’s best, most reliable and dangerous goalscorer. But Barcelona without him against the very highest opposition are not the same. It’s a tiring topic about how Barcelona rely on him too much, but I wonder if some tactical genius who hasn’t been born yet could find a way to get the absolute best out of Messi whilst maximizing the potential of the other attackers without them being just a wheel for Messi’s displays (Messi was almost never injured during Guardiolas era, so it’s tough to call him for me). Barcelona are a superb team, who have a long chapter in this century, just wonder what the next bar is.

Neymar. It is becoming increasingly clear that Neymar wasn’t a luxury purchase, but an essential one. The team seems to play faster and in a more unfettered style when he is in. He also helps Messi get space by being brilliant as a passer.

Hard to believe that the duo has only played 16 of the 36 Barça matches this season. I suspect when that duo gets dialed in, it’s going to be a hard time for many a defense.

He\\\\\\\'s Gotta Hit The Target from there (for me) on February 3, 2014 at 10:04 pm

Yeah, that’s what I feared! Equally annoying are the Joey Bartons of the world who think because Neymar has a flashy haircut and wears bright boots he somehow doesn’t have the talent to back it up. He’s a remarkable player and also surprisingly hard working for a player of his attacking genius.

what a joke on February 4, 2014 at 11:13 am

Neymar and attacking genius, lololo, just because he plays in barca he is an attacking genius, yes, he plays for the team which dominates every match, everyone has to defend and play counterattacks but he is a genius lol, poor stats for a genius, even overhyped Bale have better stats and he plays for Madrid when Ronaldo is selfish and one man show. Ane Neymar played more matches without Messi than Bale without Ronaldo, so really if Neymar was a genius he would have had more assists, goals etc.. Just look and Sanches and amount of goals.. Is he a genius too? lol

If Neymar is an attacking genius I dont know what Hazard, Oscar, Goetze are.

Hes gotta hit the target from there (for me) on February 4, 2014 at 1:28 pm

‘What a joke’, surely you’ve watched enough football over the years to not judge players purely on stats or youTube clips. And the ‘just because he plays for Barcelona’ thing works two ways; David Villa’s stats were not as good at Barcelona as at Valencia, I would still cal him a great player. Oscar, Gotze, Hazard? I guess I would call them ‘attacking geniuses’ too. It’s a phrase, not an academy award.

Ra on February 4, 2014 at 11:09 am

Answer for that problem is simple – another striker/winger who can actually score at least 25 goals per season. And who can score when matters, in games like that vs Valencia, or in UCL. Neymar is great addition to the squad but his goalscoring skills are still questionable. Messi is still alone and that is the only reason Barcelona struggles against tough defenses. They can open up any defense but Messi can’t be there every time to finish the chance. Pedro, Alexis, Tello and Neymar need to step up when it matters. When Barca had at least one top notch finisher they were European champions.

Lucas on February 3, 2014 at 3:32 pm

ZM, what do you think about argentinian coaches in terms of tactics? This macht was the two last argentinian champions facing each other

where is clarence on February 4, 2014 at 11:00 am

we miss your comments

Sudha on February 5, 2014 at 3:15 pm

Some general comments.

1. Looks to me Barca is on the decline phase. Unless they renew their key players and adjust their tactics, Barca would no longer be a contender for the CL title. I think it is a massive mistake to let Thiago leave.

2. Martino’s tactics – seemed to be out of his depth in the La Liga and CL versus the better teams

3. Messi – his game is based on speed and he has lost a bit of that lately after the injuries. Like MU depending on RVP, Barca is over reliant on Messi. In fact I would say that more than Barca’s playing style, the goals of Messi is key success factor.

4. The team seems to be running less and passing slower than before.

5. Barca’s decline is a precursor for Spain’s problem in the coming WC. I expect the Spanish era to come to a close soon, may be even in the 2014 WC.